Societies

The Pastel Society (PS) is a registered charity, widely recognised as promoting Contemporary Fine Art in painting and drawing with pastel and dry media both in the UK and worldwide.

Acceptable media include all types of pastel, chalk or crayon whether in stick or pan form, made from pure pigment mixed with a binder including soft pastels, hard pastels, oil pastels, ink pastels, water-based pastels, Conté crayons or sticks and sanguine and other dry mediums that are similar in their application including charcoal and pencil.

Pastel and other mediums listed above shall be regarded as having no boundaries, whether on their own or in combination with other media. However, pastel or the other dry media mentioned should be the primary medium in the finished mixed media work.

Membership of The Society will be granted through a strict assessment of technical skill, originality, innovation, enthusiasm and a willingness to promote the objectives and activities of the Society.

The Society was founded in 1898 and its first exhibition was held in the Royal Institute in Piccadilly. Founder members and early exhibitors included Brangwyn, Degas, Rodin, Rothenstein, Whistler and G.F. Watts. There are currently over 50 members who are all professional artists living and working in this country and overseas.

The Society pursues its aims through education and example. It is currently responsible for exhibitions, tutorial workshops, demonstrations and lectures throughout the UK.

The Society’s Annual Exhibition is open to entries from both members and non-members. A wide range of awards are made for works of particular note and there are prizes specifically for non-members and young artists.

The Royal Society of British Artists was founded by a group of painters in 1823 and in 1887 the Society was granted the ‘Royal’ prefix. The RBA has remained one of the world’s premier art societies and has attracted world-renowned artists as members for nearly 200 years.

The Royal Society of British Artists has attracted many noteworthy painters and sculptors, such as Phillip de László, LS Lowry and Henry Moore. Today there are just over 100 members, working with the highest standards of skill, expression and concept throughout the visual arts. 

RBA Projects:

The encouragement of artists is one of the primary aims of the RBA. With this in mind, this year the RBA offers:

RBA Rome Scholarship 2022 - a wonderful opportunity for artists who live, work or study in the UK and who are aged 35 years or under, to compete for a month in Rome - with cash prizes for 3 finalists

RBA RISING STARS – Forty semi-finalists for the Rome Scholarship showing their work in an exhibition at the Royal Over-Seas League in Central London

RBA Further Education Consortium - We created a consortium with 4 FE colleges from ‘disadvantaged’ areas of the UK - one each in Birmingham, Manchester, Hereford and Haringey in London. We have funding from the Turing UK project to send 104 Further Education students, aged 16-19, [plus 16 accompanying teachers] to Europe. The students will complete 3-week work placements in companies and organisations related to the creative industries. Also included will be 4 recent graduates from each college, who will have 8-week internships. This means that in total 120 young people will benefit from this experience

Since its foundation in 1831, the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI) has promoted the essentially English art of watercolour. Formally called the New Society of Painters in Watercolours, with its origins in the Old Water Colour Society of the 18th Century, the RI was formed to exhibit the best of progressive watercolours and to show non-members’ works alongside that of members, a policy still followed today.

The RI continues that policy by showing a diversity of styles and techniques, from traditional uses of the medium to the more experimental and innovative paintings now produced by members of the RI and other artists whose pictures have been selected by the RI Council.  These include many young painters who are encouraged to submit their work using water-soluble media.

Members of the RI are recognised as having achieved a high standard of work as professional artists. The RI’s Annual Exhibition provides an exciting display of pictures that attracts many visitors to Mall Galleries.

The Royal Society of Portrait Painters stated aim is to promote the practice and appreciation of the fine arts and, in particular, to promote excellence in the art of portraiture.

The Society vigorously looks to uphold the values and practices of its long and distinguished history, but at the same time, it seeks to explore and develop new artistic models and perspectives in this endlessly fascinating and relevant discipline. Membership is through election for the merit of work.

The Society of Portrait Painters was founded in 1891. Twenty years later it became the ‘Royal Society of Portrait Painters’, with its early membership including John Everett Millais, George Frederick Watts and James McNeil Whistler. It is now a registered charity with Her Majesty The Queen as its Patron. 

Within its present membership, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters contains a broad collection of stylistic and intellectual approaches that continue to make a significant contribution to the ongoing tradition of portraiture in Britain today.

Its annual exhibition takes place at Mall Galleries, its permanent collection is at Girton College Cambridge and its service to help those wishing to commission a portrait is run throughout the year.

The New English Art Club is an elected society of contemporary painters whose ethos resides in art informed by the visual world and personal interpretation.

The Annual Exhibition is a showcase not only for its members but also for aspiring artists: with a history going back more than a hundred years, it is an opportunity for work to be seen alongside some of the best artists painting today, held at Mall Galleries in London.

Founded by a group of artists dissatisfied with the entrenched attitudes of the Royal Academy, the group mounted their first show in 1886 and work included paintings by Clausen, Sickert and Stanhope Forbes. The New English increasingly attracted younger artists, bringing with them the influence of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism.

Many diverse styles of art have developed since its founding, adding richness and variety. The New English aims to foster excellence in all its activities and continues to assist and encourage the art of painting to develop even more expressive possibilities.

By virtue of its independence, the New English engages educated public interest on different levels: a nationwide programme of exhibitions, an acclaimed School of Drawing, a website and an active Friends scheme that supports the aims of the New English.

The Royal Society of Marine Artists (RSMA) is widely recognised as the focal point for much of Britain's finest contemporary marine art and many of the country's leading marine artists are elected members of the Society.

The common theme is the sea and tidal waters although, within that remit, members work is wide and varied. Subjects range from deep water shipping to coastal scenes, competitive sailing to quiet harbours, marine wildlife to still-life. Some members specialise in carefully researched historical paintings; others paint en plein air, attempting to capture the essence of the scene at a particular moment in time; yet others work in their studio from copious notes and sketches made on location. The work is representational in the broadest sense and includes all the usual media: oil, watercolour, acrylic, pastel, pencil, pen and ink, as well as prints and the occasional sculpture.

In 2014 the Society celebrated its 75th anniversary. Founded in 1939 as The Society of Marine Artists, in 1966 Her Majesty the Queen granted it the title Royal Society of Marine Artists. Early members included Charles Pears, Montague Dawson, Claude Muncaster, Norman Wilkinson, Rowland Hilder and Edward Wesson, all eminent artists in their day and whose work is held in major national collections. Many of the current members are equally eminent in their field and their work will be valued and appreciated for generations to come.

The Society has links with the maritime world, including the National Maritime Museum, the Royal Navy, the RNLI, sail training organisations and publishing. It also has a valued group of supporters, the Friends of the RSMA. The Society is a registered charity with a commitment to encourage and promote marine art, and many of its members are active in teaching, lecturing and demonstrating their skills.

The Annual Exhibition is open to non-members and the Society welcomes entries from all artists interested in celebrating some aspect of the sea and tidal waters. All submitted work is subject to selection by a panel of RSMA members. Each year a number of prizes are awarded, most of which are open to non-members as well as members.

The Society of Wildlife Artists is a registered charity that aims to generate an appreciation of and delight in the natural world through all forms of fine art, based on representing the world’s wildlife.

Through exhibitions and publications, the Society aims to further an awareness of the importance of conservation in order to maintain the variety of the world’s ecosystems and its wildlife.  The Society also supports and promotes the arts-based objectives of other conservation and wildlife charities.

Through its Bursary schemes, the Society is able to help young artists keen to develop their knowledge and skills in wildlife art, offering awards of up to £750 towards travel, education or the cost of materials.

The focus of the Society’s work is the Annual Exhibition in November. Included with the work of members from the UK, mainland Europe, North America and Russia, is the work of successful Bursary applicants, as well as a selection of work from non-members.  The Annual Exhibition of the SWLA is the foremost event in the British wildlife art calendar.

The aim of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI) is to uphold the age-old tradition of painting in oils, whilst giving encouragement to outstanding young oil painters of the future.

Founded in 1882, the Institute is proud of its royal status, granted by King Edward VII in 1909, as well as the many famous artists who have exhibited with the Institute, including Alma Tadema, Sickert, Laura Knight, Fantin-Latour and Rodin.  Today, the Institute’s membership includes many of the leading oil painters in the UK, amongst them several Royal Academicians.

The ROI takes a keen interest in encouraging the development of younger artists, notably through the Winsor & Newton Oil Painters Awards (Under 35’s) Competition, which has become an important feature of the Institute’s Annual Exhibition.

Any artist may submit paintings to the Annual Exhibition and membership of the ROI is open to non-member artists who have submitted work of a consistently high standard to this exhibition.